We say to the British government: you have kept those sculptures for almost two centuries. You have cared for them as well as you could, for which we thank you. But now in the name of fairness and morality, please give them back.

The first official recording of this now-legendary song was made by Nana Mouskouri in 1960 although the company Sirius created by Manos Hadjidakis issued in 2004 a recording that Melina made for French TV during the 1960s. Melina Mercouri concentrated on her stage career for the following years playing in the Greek productions of The Threepenny Opera and for a second time Sweet Bird of Youth in addition to the ancient Greek tragedies Medea and Oresteia. [citation needed]


Involvement in politics
After the fall of the Junta and during the metapolitefsi in 1974 Mercouri settled in Greece and was one of the founding members of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) a centre-left political party.

She won the award for Best Actress at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival and Melina Mercouri was also nominated for an Academy Award three Golden Globe Awards and two BAFTA Awards. A political activist during the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 Melina Mercouri became a member of the Hellenic Parliament in 1977 and the first female Minister for Culture of Greece in 1981. She was a strong advocate for the return to Athens of the Parthenon Marbles which were removed from the Parthenon and are now displayed in the British Museum.